Love Sonia
Directed byTabrez Noorani
Written byAlkesh Vaja
Produced byDavid Womark
Starring
Music byA. R. Rahman
Distributed byZee Studios
Release dates
Running time
120 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi[1]

Love Sonia is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Tabrez Noorani and produced by David Womark.[2][3] The film features newcomer Mrunal Thakur as the title character along with Riya Sisodiya, Freida Pinto, Demi Moore, Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadda, Anupam Kher, Adil Hussain, Rajkummar Rao, and Sai Tamhankar.[2][4] Love Sonia had its world premiere at the London Indian Film Festival on 21 June 2018.[5] The film was released in India on 14 September 2018.[6]

Synopsis

The film is about two sisters robbed of their innocence when one is sold by her debt-ridden father, and the other follows after her in the hope of rescuing her but becomes trapped in the sex trade herself. While on a troublesome and challenging journey that takes us through the red-light districts of Mumbai, the latent innocence in the younger sister and the grit to rescue her sister and eventually herself stays intact.

Plot

Preeti and Sonia are two daughters of a debt-ridden poor farmer, Shiva, who lives approximately 1400 kms away from Mumbai. The sisters love each other deeply and are willing to go to any length to protect each other. A village boy named Amar is deeply in love with Sonia. Amar helps the sisters create their individual email IDs to stay in touch with each other. Shiva, who is indebted to a local landlord Dada Thakur, agrees to sell Preeti to a prostitute Anjali, to pay off his debt. Sonia desperately attempts to save Preeti from being sold but fails. That night, she mercifully requests Dada Thakur to send her to Mumbai, to meet Preeti. Subsequently, Anjali whisks away Sonia to Mumbai under the pretext of reuniting her with Preeti. Anjali sells her in a brothel owned by Faizal a.k.a. Babu and controlled by the brothel madame Madhuri. Sonia is terribly scared and traumatized by the atmosphere of the brothel. Another prostitute Rashmi befriends her. While trying to escape from the brothel Sonia is caught by Faizal who threatens to kill her if she tries to run away again. After multiple pleas, Faizal agrees to let Sonia meet Preeti, who has become a drug-addict, high profile prostitute. Preeti angrily reprimands Sonia for letting their dad sell her and throws her away and she was jealous of her. Meanwhile, Shiva begs Dada Thakur to return Sonia to him. Anjali provides Shiva the address to Kamathipura and directs him to Mumbai. Shiva frantically searches for Sonia in all the red-light areas of Mumbai. Meanwhile, a social worker named Manish approaches Sonia and extracts details about Preeti from her. He raids Faizal's brothel to rescue Sonia and another pre-teen named Asha. However, Sonia refuses to leave. Rashmi severs ties with Sonia when she accuses her of stealing Preeti's anklet, the only souvenir of Preeti left with Sonia. Faizal ships off Madhuri, Sonia and several other girls to Hong Kong in a cargo container. Madhuri, who till that time was hostile towards Sonia, starts looking after her affectionately. Sonia ends up getting raped by a Chinese customer. She forcefully undergoes a hymen reconstruction procedure to prove her a virgin. The girls are again shipped to Los Angeles, where a relatively friendly client allows Sonia to get in touch with Amar via email. He also gifts her a mobile phone. At a party, Madhuri commits suicide by slitting her wrist. Sonia runs away from her handlers, deep into the forests. A destitute Sonia, while trying to eat from a dustbin, is rescued by a social worker Salma who runs a NGO named C.A.S.T. Sonia finally finds peace of mind in the shelter home along with several other rescued girls and women. One day, Salma and Manish surprise her by reconnecting her with Preeti over a video call. Preeti tearfully asks for forgiveness and requests her to return. Six months later, Sonia returns to Manish's shelter home where she shockingly finds out that Preeti goes back to prostitution due to her drug addiction. Sonia begins her life all over again with a renewed hope in the shelter home. Her parents come to meet her but she refuses to go with them.Her father tries to talk to him but She didn't say a word to him and neither hug him. She also patches up with Amar. Finally, she sends an email to Preeti stating that no matter what happens, she will surely find her someday and her sister was most beautiful girl in the world.

Cast

Production

Development

Tabrez Noorani was inspired to make Love Sonia after he was introduced to the severity of human trafficking in Los Angeles in 2003, when some girls were found in a shipping container from China. One of them was a young Indian girl. The incident inspired Noorani to work with non-governmental organizations focused on trafficking in Los Angeles. He has also participated in several brothel raids.[11] Noorani and Womark met on Ang Lee's Life of Pi and have been working on the project for three years.[12] This film basically revolves around a scenario that depicts the human trafficking of girls for heinous practices that are portrayed in the red-light areas of Mumbai depicting the sorrow of prostitutes on a large scale.

Casting

Mrunal Thakur was cast in the title role after a year long search of over 2,500 girls.

Filming

The principal photography started in late April 2016 in India and also filmed in Hong Kong and Los Angeles.[12]

Awards and nominations

Award Date of ceremony[lower-alpha 1] Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 10 Aug 2018 – 22 Aug 2018 Best Indie Film Love Sonia Won [13]
[14]
Best Director Tabrez Noorani Nominated
Best Supporting Performance Richa Chadda Won
Freida Pinto Nominated
London Indian Film Festival 21 Jun 2018 – 29 Jun 2018 Best Newcomer Award Mrunal Thakur Won [15]
Outstanding Achievement Award Richa Chadda Won

Notes

  1. ↑ Date is linked to the article about the awards held that year, wherever possible.

References

  1. ↑ "Love Sonia". BBFC. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Richa Chadda bags international project". The Times of India. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "Frieda Pinto, Anupam Kher to star in sex-trafficking movie". The Indian Express. 14 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Good time for women-oriented films: Richa Chadda". 10 October 2017.
  5. ↑ "Opening Night GALA - Love Sonia". London Indian Film Festival. 24 April 2018.
  6. ↑ "'Love Sonia'is hard-hitting story that deals with human trafficking". Times of India. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "Demi Moore e Mark Duplass confirmados no elenco do drama 'Love Sonia'". Film PT (in Portuguese). 5 July 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  8. ↑ "Manoj Bajpayee says his character in Demi Moore's Love Sonia will raised bar of negative roles". The Indian Express. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  9. ↑ "From Freida Pinto and Richa Chadha to Demi Moore and Rajkummar Rao – Meet the cast of 'Love Sonia'". Clapsnslaps. 18 July 2016. Archived from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  10. ↑ "Freida Pinto shoots in Mumbai". The Times of India. Times News Network. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "Indian sex trafficking film is 'a story that needs to be told'". Reuters. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  12. 1 2 Fleming, Mike Jr. (13 April 2016). "'Slumdog's Tabrez Noorani Sets Sex Trafficking Exposé 'Love Sonia' For India Shoot; Frieda Pinto, Anupam Kher Star". Deadline. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  13. ↑ "Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Awards 2018 Nominations". Firstpost. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  14. ↑ "Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Awards 2018 Winners". Daily News and Analysis. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  15. ↑ "London Indian Film Festival Awards 2018". London Indian Film Festival. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
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